Inspiration

Garbo is radiant, but her star doesn't shine brightly enough to overcome the dim script in this movie that cost more than $400,000 to produce, back when that sum went a long way in Hollywood. There were several legal problems caused by the movie, based on a story by James Forbes taken from Alphonse Daudet's Sappho. The difficulty came about because European copyright laws are different from those in the US, and, while the story was in the public domain in the States, it was still protected in many countries across the pond. Pathe successfully sued MGM for infringement and the film was shelved until an agreement was reached. It was all a tempest in a teapot, ...